Tonight, I saw a Nova film about the future of genome testing. I think it was a very interesting presentation about the positives and negatives of this uncertain scientific terrain. It portrayed several situations in which people regretted getting tested and others refused to be tested. In both situations, there were drawbacks. This film made me realize the difficulty of decisions many people are going to have to make in the future. It also made me question whether humankind should have access to this kind of technology and knowledge. Further on in the film, experts stated the potential implications of having people’s genetic codes made public. It could lead to discrimination.

All of these drawbacks make genetic testing seem villainous. However, the medical success stories shown in the film also highlight the positive effects. Children’s lives were significantly changed because of testing. They were able to diagnose rare diseases and develop medicines to help combat them. In some cases where the patients were older, there was less genetic testing could do. This makes me think that if genetic testing were to become normal, it would start at birth. However, this also has negative implications for these children. The stigma of a disease they cannot predict or treat could follow them around for their entire life.

Overall, it seems that genetic testing is a very difficult terrain to travel. I feel as if all of these conflicting views and stories make it extremely difficult for me to pick a side. I think that the world is going in the direction of using genetic testing regularly and fear of the unknown is mounting as time goes on and new discoveries are made. How do we know the implications of knowing more? It seems to be an impossible question to answer.